Marco Rubio Campaign Slams New York Times For Questioning Personal Finances

Win McNamee/Getty Images9 Jun 2015

Sen. Marco Rubio’s team is reacting to a New York Times story featuring an in-depth investigation of his personal finances.

The Times piece was published this morning, just days after the paper ran a widely mocked hit piece highlighting the Rubio family’s traffic tickets.

“The attack from The Times is just the latest in their continued hits against Marco and his family,” said Rubio’s communication director Alex Conant. “First The New York Times attacked Marco over traffic tickets, and ow they think he doesn’t have enough money. Of course if he was worth millions, The Times would then attack him for being too rich like they did to Mitt Romney.”

The Times pointed to Rubio’s boat purchase and his family lease of a $50,000 Audi, as well as multiple housing purchases, suggesting that the Senator was irresponsible with money.

Conant added that Rubio was not focused on “getting rich” but providing for his family, pointing out that he sends his four children to private school and puts money into a college savings account for each one. He also pointed out that Rubio paid off more than $150,000 in student loans and donated nearly $150,000 in charity.

The Times writes that Rubio’s personal finances “could undermine Mr. Rubio’s well-crafted political persona” for criticizing “excessive government spending and runaway debt.”

Rubio’s team scoffed at the accusation, pointing out that Rubio didn’t even meet the dangerous debt threshold for families set by the federal government.

“Marco’s monthly financial obligations do not put his family finances above the 43 percent debt-to-income ratio the federal government suggests is worrisome,” Conant said in his response.